﻿How To Upgrade Your MacBook Pro with an SSD

A MacBook Pro SSD upgrade gives your laptop the biggest speed increase. This guide gives you an overview, to show you what to do to upgrade your old MacBook hard drive to an SSD.There are two-speed bottlenecks in a MacBook Pro notebook. Amount of Ram and the Hard Drive access and write speeds We recommend your MacBook Pro has at least 16GB for the best speeds.We suggest that for the latest Mac OS you need at least 8GB of RAM. Not all Macs allow for RAM to be upgraded, some of the latest MacBook Pros have the RAM soldered on. Making removal near impossible and hazardous to your computer.Buy a machine with as much RAM as possible at the point of purchase to ‘future proof’ yourself. If you CAN upgrade your RAM then we suggest you go for 16GB, contact us and we’ll recommend the right RAM for your machine. But…if it is a choice between 16GB and an SSD, choose an SSD. 8GB of RAM and an SSD will give you a super speedy Mac. Applications open quicker, startup is startlingly fast, and your old machine will seem like new.There are two reasons an SSD is faster than an old, traditional Hard Drive. Using an old SSD means your computer has to hunt around for the data. With an SSD your computer can find the data quicker.An SSD is made from ‘flash chips’ that are almost as fast as RAM memory. When your laptop runs out of ram it uses the SSD, which is like using the SSD as RAM. Your SSD is like a big RAM drive and it’s why you can ‘get away’ with 8GB of RAM.The easiest method to upgrade your hard drive is as follows:BEFORE YOU START BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA.

STEP ONE: REPLACEIt will depend on what Mac model you have, but removing the hard drive is usually straightforward if you have the right tools. Simply remove the base or Hard Drive cover and unplug the hard drive, then release the mounting screws.

STEP TWO: REBOOTPlug Time Machine back up hard drive into the laptop’s USB port. If you have a time capsule that uses WiFi, ensure it is on and can be connected to. Restart your Mac and hold down the Option key. The Mac will then look for disks attached that can be booted from. It should recognise your Time Machine and display the icon on screen.

STEP THREE: RE-FORMATA new SSD will be sent unformatted, so initialise the SSD to ready it for your data. After you click Time Machine select Disk Utility. Choose format type. Use APFS for Mojave or High Sierra Earlier Mac OS use “Mac extended journaled” Give your SSD a Name like “Speedy” or something fun! Click “apply” and this formats the SSD and gets it ready for your data.

STEP FOUR: RESTOREOnce your new SSD is formatted Time Machine will show you available backups. Choose your latest backup (from step one). Your Mac will ask to restore back up. Select “Yes”. And that’s it…

Time Machine will now start restoring onto the new SSD.It will take approximately 100gb per hour, so don’t do it unless you have a day or so to spare.

If you have any Mac Upgrade questions call Tech Shed.Business or Home User Call us for Emergency IT Support on 01932 267085 ———————————————————————————-This presentation contains images that were used under a Creative Commons License. Click here to see the full list of images and attributions: https://app.contentsamurai.com/cc/282100